I've not really got anything heavily against ranged weapons, if they're properly balanced. If everyone has equal gun strength or they are so rare and expensive that they become supportive rather than the primary weapon, they're fine. Once you get empires who use Riflemen as their bread and butter troops and when GM's rule it in the rifleman's favour because "he has a gun" and you want to throttle him (or her) and yell "it's a bloody pea-shooter, not a goddamn sniper rifle!", that's when I start hating them.
 And I totally agree with you about magic. I hadn't even thought of those other uses. Magic swiftly becomes too powerful once you use it to turn your last-ditch militia force into the Renaissance version of the Hulk. Each.
But, as I said earlier, I think (hope!) most players want a good story, rather than "win". And from what little I've seen of you lot, I don't think we should worry

 1. It demonstrates how broken the game is when guards hit me with sticks and brooms while I'm doing a Clint Eastwood impression with a six-shooter. Even their Renaissance rifles are pitiful compared to your wrist-mounted, hidden, crusade-era pistol in terms of both power and reload speed. Apparently it's not enough to have a hyper-agile, free-running, tough-as-diamonds assassin who has a sword, knife, throwing knives, fists, metal fists, scavenged weapons, smoke bombs, hidden blade, other hidden blade, mountains of painkillers, poison blade, poison darts, other assassin, scaffolding and a crossbow, he needs a goddamn pistol.

 2. It was more to demonstrate that most fantasy settings aren't fans of guns. It would make dragons at lot easier to kill if the Dovahkiin could just blast their wings with a rifle or gun down the Falmer or Draugr with a pistol.

 3. I prefer swords in fantasy settings, you've got me. But I'll do what I can with what I've got. Bows and crossbows I can handle, but I'm not the biggest fan of gunpowder weapons.

 And can I say, it will be a honor to share my first RPG... erm, RPG with you guys.
Here's to a good game!

P.S. Nice signature, ASTA. I don't know who it is, but I like Tonfas as a weapon. Very creative.